It was a great surprise for me when recently I received from the editor of “Drug in Poland” Mariusz Chomicki
a letter with best wishes on the occasion of 50th anniversary of “Polish Journal of Pharmacology”. The letter prompted me to look through chronicles of our Institute, which history intertwined with evolution of our journal.
I am taking opportunity of this anniversary to mention few names of peoples who actively participated in the
creation and maintenance of “Polish Journal of Pharmacology”. Indeed, history of the journal can be tracked back to the late forties and early fifties, when the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków had been editing the journal entitled “Prace Komisji Nauk Farmaceutycznych Dissertationes Pharmaceuticae” under the guidance of Assistant Professor Irena Turowska, Professor Marek Gatty-Kostyal and Professor Janusz Supniewski. From 1954 the Department of Pharmacology of the newly created Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków, headed by Professor Janusz Supniewski, continued publishing the quarterly journal under the title “Dissertationes Pharmaceuticae”. At that time, most articles were written in Polish (abstracts in Russian and English) and concerned plant pharmacology and chemistry. Gradually, the scope of the journal broadened and after the election of Dr. Jerzy Maj as a new editor of “Dissertationes Pharmaceuticae” in 1956, a 12 person Editorial Committee was constituted, which operated also when in 1962 the next editor, Dr. Apoloniusz Dłużniewski and his deputy Dr. Marian Eckstein were appointed. Following Professor Janusz Supniewski’s death in 1964, Professor Józef Hano was designated the Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology. In 1966, Professor Józef Hano became also the Editor in Chief of the journal. At the same time, its title was changed to “Dissertationes Pharmaceuticae et Pharmacologicae” with an alteration of publishing schedule to bimonthly. Since 1968 the journal has been published exclusively in English. The title was again changed to “Polish Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacy” in 1973, while maintaining the requirement to contribute articles in English and bimonthly schedule of publication.
In 1974 by the order of the Executive Council of the Polish Academy of Sciences the Department was raised to
Institute status and 3 years later Professor Jerzy Maj was named to head the Institute. In that period, important organizational changes took place and modern neuropharmacology became the main research focus of the Institute.
In years 1979-1988 Assistant Professor Jerzy Vetulani, Dr. Marian Bała, Professor Jacek Bojarski, Dr. Maria Marchut, Professor Zbigniew Herman, Assistant Professor Ewa Mogilnicka and Dr. Leszek Pawłowski joined the Editorial Board of “Polish Journal of Pharmacology”. Gradually, less and less pharmaceutical papers appeared in the journal and the title was again changed to “Polish Journal of Pharmacology” in 1993, maintaining the schedule of publication as before. In that year, annual circulation was 500 and in exchange for its publication, the Institute received annual subscriptions of 55 foreign journals. Since 1994, the editor of the journal was Professor Jerzy Vetulani who, together with the Chairmans of Advisory Board, Professor Jerzy Maj and Professor Edmund Przegaliński, introduced several important changes in the journal such as more attractive graphical form, faster editorial processing and modern printing technology. When regarding the important changes which mark the Polish Journal of Pharmacology’s 50th anniversary, it is compelling to mention Dr. Helena Tomczyk, Dr. Roman Rembiesa, Zofia Michalska M.Sc., Dr. Joanna Diak and Barbara Morawska-Nowak M.Sc. who managed the Editorial Office, thus being most directly involved in editorial process.
Now “Polish Journal of Pharmacology” is a well recognized journal, concerned with all aspects of basic and clinical pharmacology. Interdisciplinary in focus, “Polish Journal of Pharmacology” features the current peer-reviewed articles on the drug action at the cellular and molecular level and relationship between molecular structure and biological activity. We have distinguished international editorial board and fast, effective reviewing procedure.
“Polish Journal of Pharmacology” is covered by several abstracting services, including MEDLINE, BIOSIS,
Chemical Abstracts, Excerpta Medica, IPA and is accessible on the World Wide Web. Although “Polish Journal of Pharmacology” does not necessarily reflect the level of pharmacological research in Poland (as everywhere sometimes the most ambitious papers are sent out for publication to already high impact factor journals) it gained well-deserved stable position among scientific periodicals.

I look forward to welcoming you as a contributor to “Polish Journal of Pharmacology”